On a visit to a Berkshire paper mill, the narrator of a Melville short story views the "wonderful" papermaking machine with awe, calling it a "miracle of inscrutable intricacy." Manifesting a similar nineteenth-century fascination with machinery, paper mill owners and workers made an industrial revolution in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, examined here by Judith McGaw. "A superb case study of mechanization and social change in the paper industry of Berkshire County. . . . There is a plethora of reasons why this book will be of interest to economic, technological, labor and social historians as well as to students."--Avi J. Cohen, Journal of Economic History "Most Wonderful Machine belongs on a list with the mere handful that have offered deep insights into the American industrial revolution and especially into the social relations of mechanization. . . . An extraordinary achievement."--George H. Daniels, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science "An especially rewarding chapter is devoted to the `separate sphere' of women workers."--Stanley Buder, History
